HOW AMERICAN SOLDIERS FIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 177, 29 July 1898, Page 6

HOW AMERICAN SOLDIERS FIGHT.

As to the courage of the American soldier there 'can be no doubt; Of course there were some cowards. General Sherman says, somewhere, that 25 per cent, of men have not the necessary nerve for battle. If this 25 per cent, is jammed into line it will run—unless there are men behind it ready to shoot the fugitives. For this reason the rear of the Northern armies was picketed during the Avar. The sentries allowed only the wounded to pass. But this does not impugn the valour of the Apaerican private. There are cowards in every army. One man, a Northern officer tells us, was drummed out ol the ranks, though he Avas of good family, and bitterly felt his disgrace. He contended, and it was true, that under fire he was seized with paralysis, and could not move forward; therefore he used to lie down. Such tilings happened in the FrancoPrussian War,

Towards the close of the war, when the bravest of the Northern soldiers had been killed off in repeated battles, there was a strong cowardly element in the Northern army. Tt keeps me busy to hold him from running away whenever we are under fire,' said a Northern private of the man next to him in the ranks. 'Some day he will be so badly frightened that he will run toward the Confederates instead of away from them, and then I am going to kill him.' And he meant A\'hat he said.

Many comical incidents happened on the battlefield early in the war, when the officers in command were untried and incompetent. One colonel led his regiment right off the field, with the remark, 'This is too hot for me, boys.' A soldier fighting in woodland Avas seen to he looking anxiously about for shelter. He was asked what he was doing, and A\hy he didn't get behind a tree. 'Confound it,' he ansAvered, 'there ain't enough for . the officers.' No man, it has been truly said knows exactly how he will behave in battle. 'No man,' a Northern private tells us, 'really enjoys a battle. One has to string up his nerves, and take a firm grip on himself morally, and hold himself in the battle-flames for a feAV moments until warmed to passion. Tbe impulse is to run out of danger.'

General Grant tells us a very curious stor}' of his first battle in the Civil War. He AA ras marching in command of a force to attack a Confederate camp. 'As Aye approached the broAv of the hill, from Avhich it Avas expected Aye could see the camp, my heart kept getting higher and higher, until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I Avould have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do.' The broAv of the hill Avas reached; the Confederates were gone. 'My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that the enemy had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This Avas a view of the question I had never taken before, but it was one I never forgot afterwards.'

From the very outset these raw troops fought bravely. At Bull Run several Northern regiments, did. not want to go into the battle, because, they explained, their time of service had just expired, and what was before them Avas not exactly the picnic they had expected. Yet, AA'hen driven on "to the field they did not disgrace themselves. They did not run till they had suffered a loss of 13 per I cent., which is quite a creditable j figure for raAV troops. But when the panic came, the difference between ' regular disciplined soldiers and milI itia was seen at once. The regulars retired sloAvly, and in splendid order. The raAV troops bolted, shrieking and hoAvling. 'The men fell away from the ranks talking and in great confusion' are Sherman's very gentle Avords. As a contrast with this, I may giA'e the story of Cold Harbour, where the heroism of the Northern soldier Avas so signaUy proved. Here the Northern army had to assault a line of strong earthworks, behind Avhich lay General Lee's veterans. Such an assault upon tried and determined i troops Avas certain to be bloody, almost certain to be unsuccessful. The men kneAV all, this, and waited two days in suspense. 'Some were sad, some indifferent, some so tired of the strain on their nerves that they wished they were dead and their troubles over. They had resolved to do their best, but there was no eagerness for the fray, and the impression among the. intelligent soldiers Avas that the AA'ork cut out for them was more than man could accomplish.' What, then, did they do? Whimper or mutiny? General Horace Porter tells us. All the afternoon before the assault regiments Avere sewing something on to the backs of their coats. A curious officer looked to discoA-er' what this Avas. They Avere seAving on their names, that their bodies might be identified and sent home after the assault. It was the custom in the Northern army thus to return the dead to their far-away homes —a tender and touching custom. The attack was delivered and repulsed with . murderous loss. Teh thousand men were killed in twenty "minutes —a slaughter in so short a time almost unprecedented in war, which slioavs the iron determination of the Northern privates. They cars ried the works, and came to handgrips with the terrible, ragged' in- ! fantry of Lee; but supports did not i arrive, and they were ■ hurled back, !'dazed and utterly discouraged.' They were reformed, and ordered to attack again. Not a man could move. It is a simple miracle that after such an ordeal they could be got back to order; and to ask further self-sacri-fice and devotion of troops so hopelessly shattered was a grave mistake. The private Wilkinson, from Avhose stirring narrative (which, such are critics and public in this country, has scarcely received any attention in England), I have drawn many of the above facts, winds up Avith this speaking testimony to the courage of our race: Tt Avas seldom that an American or Irish volunteer funked in the presence of death.' • H. W. Wilson, in the 'Daily MaiL*